Process of preserving explosives.



I PATENTED SEPT. s, 1908.

ORTIZ. PROCESS OF PRESERVING EXPLOSIVES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31,1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

F /G. l.

I v INVENTOR WY PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J. IORTIZ.

lNVE/VTOR ATTOR/VEKS.

PROCESS OF PRESERVING EX PLOSIVES APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, I907.

WITNESSES:-

1 UNITED STATES PATENT osrrcn JULIEN' ORTIZ, or GREENVILLE, DELAWARE, ASSIGNOR TO THE E. 1. DU PONT DE nEMoURs POWDER COMPANY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

success or PRESERVING nxrnosrvns. Y

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULrEN ORTIZ', a'citizen of the Republicof France, residing at Greenville, county of Newcastle, and State of Delaware, have invented a new and useful Improvement 1n Processes of Preserving Explosives, of which the following is a full,'

bilizers, have been added to the explosive to absorb the acid fumes as they are formed.

The air in the powder magazine has been renewed by means of ventilators. Water has been caused to circulate along the walls of the magazine. Refrigerating apparatus has been applied under the floor of the magazines, and air has been forced into the-magazine which, in relaxing, lowered the temperature. Notwithstandlng these expedients, there have occurred spontaneous explosions, with frightful results.

The remedies that have been applied seem to have roceeded on the assumption that the avoidance of high temperature is' the .only important condition reguired for the prevention of deterioration. t is, of course, true that variations in temperature and a sustained high temperature, produce deterioration, but hygrometric variations are an even more efiective cause of deterioration,

humidity accelerating the formation of acid fumes in a pronounced degree.

The objectof my invention is to obviate,

' or at least substantially retard or minimize,

the formation of acid fumes and to absorb any acid fumes that maybe generated.

This I, accomplish by exhausting the air in duce as near as practically possible an a solute vacuum and maintaining that vacuum, The rarefaction of the air, by removing both the air and contained moisture, lowers both the temperature and humidity and besides Specification of Letters Patent.- Application mainl 31, nor. Serial No. asasss.

withdraws any acidffumes that may have been generated. The successive introductlon of dry air and rarefaction of the air may Patented Sept. 8,1908. A

be repeated from time to time, the addition of d air causing the fumes evolved by the sow er and held stagnant in the cells to be lluted, by which their subsequent removal by the a plication of the vacuum is facilitated. esides, the introduced dry air (which has lost its moisture in contact with P h,O being in need of moisture, when it contacts with the powder and permeates its cells, takes from it the moisture reviously lost andrevents in the powder til) tion of HKIO which requires the presence of H 0 to be formed.

The drawings show a practical way of carrying out my improved process as applied'to a owder magazlne, either on land or water. ilvhile the invention will doubtless be of most useful application to magazines on warvessels, as accidents in the navy have been relatively far more numerous and disastrous than accidents on land, it is adapted for ap-' plication to all situations as well as to all methods of packing and storing powder, whether in bulk, in bags, or in shells or cartridges.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is front elevation, partly in section, ofa powder magazine e formaand appurtenant mechanism adapted for the carrying out of m improved process. Fig.

2 is an enlarged p anview of part of a horibags at to be stored in tiers and the several tiers to be independently supported. I

(Z are the hinged doors, one to each upright compartment.

e are chains, one to each tierof bags, comosed of links. hinged together, each link eing of the length of a bag and of somewhat less width than the diameter of a bag, so that the bag can rest therein. When'the door of a compartment is opened, the outermost bag of a tier may be removed b hand. To galn access to the next bag, the c ain is pulled forward advancing the seriesof bags a distance multiple.

equal to the length of onebag and bringing the second bag of the series into position to be removed.

Through the top of the magazine and communicating with the 'respective compartments, is a series of plpes f communlcatmg with a pipe 9 connectlng with a vacuum pump it.

o is a vacuum gage on pipe g. a In each p1pef 1s a valve '0, for opening and closing commumcation between each magazine and the pump. In the wall of each pipe f is an orifice controlled by a'valve j b means of which outside air may be admitte to any particular compartment, as, for instance, when-it is desired to gain access thereto for the purpose of removing the bags.

Beneath the magazine proper is a drying chamber is, which has independent communication with the several compartments by means of pipes m controlled by valves n. In the drying compartment are shelves 1, upon whic maybespread phosphorous anhydrid or other moisture absorbm substance. 0 is a pipe communicating wit the lower part of the drying chamber and provided with the valve The shelves 1 are made removable so t at the phosphorous anhydri'd may be readily replenished when exhausted. They are also preferably sta gered so as to compel the air entering through the pipe 0, to pass back and forth in a c1rcuitous path efore enterin the powder compartments. The drying c amber is provided with a door 7c hinged at its bottom.

After the powder is stored in the magazine, the apparatus is operated as follows: The valves 11 in pipes f, the valves 'n in pipes m, and the valve p in pipe 0, are opened, andthe valves 3' in pipes f closed. The vacuum pump is then operated causing the air in the magazine to be withdrawn and outside air to enter the drying chamber and pass there from through the powder compartments in The relatively humid air in the magazine is thus dis laced by air that has been thorou hly drie by its passage through the dr ing chamber, and any acid fumes that have been formed are likewise withdrawn. The valves n in pipes m are now closed, and the continued action of the pump rarefies the air in the several powder compartments and also withdraws .any moisture or evaporable substance that may be in the com artments or in sus ension in the powder. When the desired egree of rarefaction has been obtained, the valves 71 in pipe f are closed. The conditions are now such that the powder will be preserved almost. indefinitely, the important conditions of reduced temperature and much reduced humidity substantially preventing the disintegration of the exlosive. t is obvious, however, that safety 'ctates a renewed application from time to time of the vacuum pump as well as occasional tests at such time of the gases extracted in such operation. It ma also be advisable, after a time, to again introduce dry air into the powder compartments for the purpose'of diluting any fumes that may have been evolved by the explosive and held stagnant in its cells, which fumes will thus be more completely removed than if the vacuum pump were applied without previous introduction of dry air.

The 1particular construction and arrangement s own for carrying out my im roved process are illustrative only, as it is o vious that the same may be modifiedin many particulars without de arting from my inventi'on, and also that dlfl'erent situations will require more or less variation in mode of a lication of the invention. For example,in ig. 4, there is shown an arrangement for exhausting the air in contact with the explosive a separate erforated tube 1' is inserted into each ow er bag a, the tube r being connected, irectly, or b means of a flexible or other hose 8, with t e tube t communicating-with the air-exhaust.

The invention ma of course be applied to in whic owder kept in meta ic cartridge cases apartrom the shells and to powder kept in cartridge cases in which the projectile 1S fixed.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. The process of storing explosives to retard their spontaneous decomposition which consists in inclosing a quantity of the explosive in an air tight compartment, rarefying the air in thecompartment in contact with the ex losive and displacing the withdrawn air wit a body of an ydrous air, and then rarefying the body of anhydrous air.

2. The process of storing explosives to retard their spontaneous decomposition which consists in mclosing a quantity of the explosive in an air tight compartment, drying a body of air, withdrawing air in contact with the explosive and displacing the air so withdrawn by air so drie shutting off access of dried air to the explosive, and rarefying the body of air in the compartment in contact with the explosive.

'3. The process ofstoring explosives to retard their spontaneous decomposition which consists in independently storing fractional parts of the entire quantity, rarefying the air in contact with each fractional art, drying a body of air not in contact witii the explosive, and independently introducing the air so dried into contact with the several fractional arts.

4. e process of storing explosives to retard their spontaneous decomposition which consists in independently storing fractional parts of the entire quantity, (1 ing a bod of air not in contact with the explosive, an insa'zgazs "8 dependently withdra contact with hereunto s 1; my hand, at, Wilmington, Del. each fractional part 'an independently inonthis 19t day of July, 1907. i trodncing air so dried into contact with the v JULIEN ORTIZ several fractional parts, and then rare v 5 the anhydrous air m contact with each Witnesses:

tional part. 'IRVIFIG EYER,

In testimony of w 611 invention; 1 have CHARLES E.A1mo1.p. 

